Good practice Imported

Codinc

Belgium · Brussels · Transnational · See the Belgium profile

The CODINC projects aim was to ensure that children and young people not only use digital tools, but also actively create technologies and take inspiration from behind the scenes of ICT. In this way, they improve their 21st century skills such as communication, collaboration, cre

Countries where the methodology was adapted and applied

Details

Maturity: Discontinued
Promoter: All Digital — website
Type: Service
Status: Ended
Target groups: Marginalised young people and children
Period: 2018-01-14 – 2020-01-14
Region (NUTS): BE10
Keywords: inclusive education, peer-learning, disadvantaged youth, digital skills

Context

CODINC ('Coding for Inclusion'), an Erasmus+ project (2018-2020) coordinated by All Digital (Brussels), adapted the 'Digital Capital' methodology and training programme across Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Spain to foster STEM education of disadvantaged youth through an inclusive, peer-learning pedagogical approach in formal and non-formal education.

Objectives

Increase teachers' and trainers' capacity to foster STEM education of disadvantaged youth through peer-learning; empower disadvantaged young people in IT and collaborative competences, problem-solving, self-confidence and creativity via a peer-learning coding programme; foster a European 'Coding for Inclusion' learning community to sustain and amplify project results.

Activities

Adapted the 'Digital Capital' methodology and training programme to different national contexts, applying it in Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Spain; targeted primary and secondary pupils (especially from disadvantaged areas), teachers, parents and trainers.

Conclusions

Coding and computational thinking should be treated as a multidimensional subject beyond science/physics curricula, usable for social inclusion of disadvantaged learners; coding education should be interactive, fun and engaging with both offline and online exercises; structured peer-to-peer learning like CODINC's lets coding be added to the curriculum without increasing teacher workload, with teachers facilitating rather than instructing.

Implementation

Indicative cost: Low (< €50k)
Time to results: Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills: Elementary and secondary school teachers, Trainers working with young people, Peer learners/student facilitators

Conditions for success

Interactive, fun and engaging coding education combining offline and online exercises
Structured peer-to-peer learning so teachers act as facilitators rather than adding workload
Embedding coding beyond science/physics curricula to support social inclusion of disadvantaged learners